I've made a great deal of this in the concise write-up. The changes to Eastern Tundra, Berserker Camp and Hos, coupled with the Witch and really strong subdungeons really make the East the easiest direction to go. Only major roadblocks are Creeplight Ruins and apart from that Namtars Lair.

The west is the hardest - Western Jungle is pretty difficult in the early game for non-fighter types (and oddly enough the fighter), Havendale Bridge is actually hard, Magma Mines is meh, and the Labyrinth is the hardest hard.

I think that the remarks about difficulty should just be removed entirely. The four directions use the same monster stat arrays and present a similar mix of open vs cramped maps.

The justification for calling west 'easy' was that it leads to Taurog, which is the most straightforward god. But I just don't buy it. A beginner isn't going to understand Taurog until he's played enough that he's probably unlocked the other gods anyway. It took me a very long time before I would even touch an altar.

Similarly, the east was called hard because it requires the church classes. But so what? Only the Paladin has a religion specific power, and he's good enough and his powers are simple enough that you can play him without altars at all.

While I'm at it, the remark about the south having good financial opportunities is misleading. I think the only thing it has going for it is Tikki Tooki. Anyone green enough to need steering text is also going to be too green to use TT in any capacity.

The thing is, that's not only their descriptions, it's their flavor. West is simple fighters and whacking stuff (easy right?), North is magic and a little bit more complex (Medium), East is the unstoppable dangerous undead and complex religion stuff (Hard), and the south is dangerous but filled with your thieves who want MONEY (Medium Hard)!

We made an expansion and it is awesome. Really, you should check it out, especially if you're looking for some extra challenge.